The Singles Jukebox

Our third time round covering him…

[Video][Website]
[6.50]

Alfred Soto: One of the best contemporary balladeers winks, encourages, and draws back. He’s a flirt who won’t give until he’s good and ready. Or she is. His trick is to let her think so.
[7]

Will Adams: A lush and lovely horn arrangement surrounds the song, but it’s not long before you get to the condescension at its center.
[5]

Josh Langhoff: My Thanksgiving resolution is to ignore the patronizing opening line. (For further research: does “Niña” populate banda ballads as thoroughly as “Girl” does bro-country? It seems like “Mujer” shows up more often.) I will also ignore any possible ickiness involving Ortiz kissing JustAGirl’s extremities until she screams his name. (“HAY no más,” Gerardo soothed soothingly.) Starting… now! Because really this song is very romantic, and there’s little precedent for Sinaloan banda incorporating Dominican-via-Bronxian bachata guitar. Plus, Ortiz’s long-lined melody is beautiful, a way better tune than Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night,” speaking of songs about children letting their inhibitions run wild. Resolution starting NOW.
[8]

Brad Shoup: Instead of left or right, Ortiz has managed to position his mix down: I feel as if the brass players are standing on my antihelix. Ortiz has plunged a leg into bachata, and so the guitar must stand out. The lyric is filled with torn clothes and orgasms and bad boyfriends; Ortiz doesn’t fade into velvet — even his spoken-word bit is a little gruff — but it makes for good tension.
[7]

Edward Okulicz: So the difference between a dude who’s believable and a douche who just thinks he knows better than a girl’s taste in boyfriends to get what he wants is just language and a weirdly beguiling vulnerability. Ortiz just sounds like he means it to me. Quite a slippery slope, but down we all go.
[7]

Patrick St. Michel: Right amount of time, and just the right amount of easy-going-ness, even if that’s all I can really get out of it.
[5]